A Year to the Day by Robin Benway

Author:Robin Benway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

December 2

107 Days After the Accident

“THERE’S NO WAY.”

Leo winces against the sunlight as she paces in front of East, literally paces back and forth across the worn grass in front of their school. She’s holding the bathroom pass from her English class, which happens to be a cinnamon whisk broom, even though she has zero intention of going to the bathroom.

East, on the other hand, is holding nothing. She had texted him at the start of the day with an all caps I NEED TO TALK TO YOU and he had written back OKAY WOW THIRD PERIOD ALL CAPS HUH.

“There’s no way,” Leo says again, even though East hasn’t said anything. He’s watching her go back and forth, and then finally tilts his head up.

“What is that thing? A broom? It smells amazing. It smells like Christmas.”

He reaches for it and Leo hands it over. “Can you please focus for a minute?” she says.

“Leo, all you’ve said is ‘There’s no way,’ and you’ve said it about forty-five times since I got here, so I’m not exactly sure what you want me to focus on besides this thing.” He waves the broom around, then takes another sniff. “Oh my God, can you just buy these things in stores?”

“East!”

“The future is now.”

“East! I think Stephanie’s pregnant.”

That gets his attention. “Your stepmom?”

Leo nods, her eyes wide.

“Did she tell you this?”

“No, I was . . . it’s a long story, but my cousin Gertie told me.”

East raises an eyebrow. “Look, no offense to your family, but based on what Nina used to tell me, Gertie is not exactly a reliable source.”

Leo screeches in frustration, not sure whether she should agree with East or defend her cousin. Across the way, two students rehearsing for the spring play (Romeo and Juliet, how original) look up, alarmed.

“Okay, just—here, sit down before the whole school thinks you’re the one about to give birth.” East tugs at her hand and she falls into the grass in front of him.

“There’s no way, though, right? Right?”

East pauses before saying, “There are actually a lot of ways Stephanie could be—”

“East!”

He smirks. “Leo, when two people love each other very much—”

“Uh-uh, no. No. Not going down that path, thank you so much.” Leo drops her head into her hands and takes a deep breath. She hadn’t slept at all the night before, dreaming of Nina, of how she laughed and talked and walked, but she could never see her sister’s face. Leo woke up sweating around 2:00 a.m. and never fell back to sleep after that, too frightened by what her brain both could and could not imagine.

“If she’s pregnant, I’ll . . . I don’t even know.”

“React like you’re reacting now?”

Leo shoots him a withering look and East finally sets aside the broom, but not before giving it a gentle pat. “Okay, so your stepmom might be pregnant. That’s . . . a development.”

“They haven’t said anything to me about it,” Leo says. “So do I say something? Do I tell my mom? Oh my God, my mom.

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